Title: Tees and Tats www.teesandtats.com
Industry: Men’s Fashion
Type of company: Limited edition, tattoo apparel
Year founded: August 2007
Location: New York City
Number of employees: 8

1. What is the start-up story behind your business venture?

I just graduated from Boston University, where I majored in Film business.  I made several films, including a feature length documentary titled One Per Cent, featuring Russel Simmons.  The film won the Audience award at the 2006 Vail Film Festival. When I graduated from college I knew that I wanted to go to business school (Harvard, Stanford), but I wasn’t so sure that top tier business schools would except me based on my film past. So I set out to start a company, which would test me on all facets of the business world, and at the same time would give me a first hand business knowledge.  I have always dressed a little different than my friends, always had a different aesthetic but one that people could relate to and appreciate.  I approached my best friend and first cousin Ben Parker (He goes to University of Maryland) to help me with my business idea.  Ben and I have always been fascinated with the art world, especially tattoos.  The intricacy, confidence, creativity and dedication that a tattoo artist must possess always inspired me. One of our favorite tattoo artists that we followed was Marco Serio, originally from Portugal and now residing in New York City at the Invisible tattoo and art studio on Orchard st.  I contacted him and pitched him my idea for a limited edition t-shirt line.  I wanted it to be different than any other tattoo apparel line.  I wanted the artwork to be at the forefront of the t-shirt.  I wanted the piece of artwork to look and drape around the body like a tattoo, so I told Marco to design all the t-shirts as if he was giving a full back piece tattoo to a customer.  So all of the designs are primarily on the back of the shirt, mimicking the back piece tattoo.

2. What is your definition of success and has your company achieved it?

There are many different levels of success that I want to reach.  In my mind I have achieved the first level.  I have created a company from an idea and I have put it into action, selling my limited edition t-shirts all around the world.  I have learned the fashion business first hand, from the creative aspect of designing the tees (colors, shadows etc), to the manufacturing the tees (In Turkey), to the promoting and selling the tees (fashion shows, sponsored events).  Every aspect of the business I was involved with.

3. To what do you attribute your company’s recent achievements?

I attribute all of the companies achievements to hard work and perseverance.  Never giving up.  I spent months of my time sending emails to hundreds of stores, where maybe two of them responded, with a “send over your material again.”  And always be pleasant–people always say “nice guys finish last” but many amazing things have happened to me and my company from random encounters where I was just being pleasant and friendly.

Good employees and my partners have been so important in the success of the company.  They are all dedicated to furthering the brand.  A word of advice– if you ever have a problem with an employee or partner, tell them immediately, do not let it fester in side.  If you let the problem sit, it will only get worse and worse.

5. What three pieces of advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

1.  If you have an idea, that you want to make a business out of.  Think of all the different angles- what could and will go wrong?  what financing do I want and what do I need to get this off the ground?
2.  Always enlist the help of people who have more experience than you.  Listen to these people, they will be glad to show you the way.
3.  And go for it with everything you have.  There are so many people out there who have amazing ideas, and I would say 99 percent of them never act on it.  Act on your ideas, and if they fail—start again.

6. What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

I have experienced many failures and I am positive I will encounter many more.  Some failures you can’t expect and there is no way to prepare for them and others are just simply your fault.  One of the failures I couldn’t prepare for was when, my manufacturing company in South Korea–woke me up at 4 am to tell me they will be a month late with my order.  They were supposed to get delivered to me on June 15, my launch event was all scheduled for July 1,  If they where a month late I wouldn’t have the product at the time of the launch.  I quickly decided to scrap the last 4 months of work with this factory and set out to find a new factory that pull out a miracle– I had no other option.  I found a factory in Turkey from one of the people I was nice to, and it all worked out.  Got product the day before the event.  One of my main failures was that I enlisted the help of a PR firm, a month before they could actually help me.  I thought they would help me promote my launch event, before I got the actual product.  I learned that this particular PR firm was inept in getting the word out, if they didn’t have product.  I thought pictures were enough and I was greatly mistaken.  So the lesson that you should learn from this– don’t always listen to what people tell you.

7. Describe/outline your typical day?

I wake up at 7:30– work out- go to the office, and contact magazines, stores, sales reps– Meet with stores, fulfill website orders.  Then usually four nights a week there is some type of event that I go to- to network and promote my tees.

8. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?

I made money from my past film ventures and I used that money to start the company.

9. What stops you from throwing in the towel and giving up during those frustrating days of running your business?

I hate failure and I won’t let that happen.  Its all about getting in that mindset that whatever happens I will not let myself fail.

10. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?

All the entrepreneur’s I know, are very passionate about what they do and have an incredible work ethic.  Your companies success lies on your shoulders.  If you don’t have passion about your company and if you don’t work extremely hard for it, than who will?

11. Who has influenced you most and been your greatest inspiration?

I have been greatly influenced by my dad–who is a true entrepreneur and my older brother, who is at Harvard Business School.

12. What book has inspired you the most?

The Da Vinci Method by Garret LoPorto

13. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?

I think the best way to market your business– is to get free publicity.  Blogs/online mags/ giving product away to people that can help you. (stylists, photographers)– a lot of networking.  I met Zukhits, the CEO of fatboyhits music.  I gave him tees and he wore them in his album cover shoot.

14. In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.

Busy

15. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?

www.tadcast.com — it is a start up company, but it will change the world– believe me.

16. How do you achieve balance in your life? Or do you?

I definitely work more than I should.  I am the ceo of www.joinmycrew.com and I am starting another music related website.  I just feel that at my age, 23, I have the ability and the time to work 18 hours a day.  I am not married and I don’t need to provide for a family yet, so I will try my best and make one if not all of my companies great success stories.  Running your own business and doing what you love to do everyday– how can it get better than that?

17. Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years? 10 years?

I see Tees and Tats or a version of it, owned by a larger company.  I see myself running one of my businesses full time, while investing and participating in many other ventures.

18. What’s your exit strategy?

I want to really build a brand over the next few years and then sell it to a larger company that can bring my vision to the mainstream– Barneys, Lord and Taylor etc.. while holding onto a small percentage, so that I can experience the huge upside
.
19. If we could introduce you to anyone, who would it be and why? (you never know who we know!)

I would love to meet sales reps all over the world, that can help me get my product in  different countries. But if I had to pick a person I would say Elon Musk– he is so bad ass– the true entrepreneur (He is the founder of Paypal, SpaceX and other awesome companies.)

Today I’ll continue with my series on the Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital.

14 Things VCs Look For

9) Factor 30

I like to call number nine Factor 30 because it helps show what kinds of products / services venture capitalists are looking to invest into.

VCs typically invest into companies that have a unique or “unfair” competitive advantage. If you’re selling an average product with the same features as everyone else, don’t expect to get funded. What VCs like to see is that your product has 10 times the capabilities of the competition offerings currently being sold on the market and you can produce it at one third the cost.

10) President Can Sell

Too many companies who pitch for venture capital money are led by Presidents who know their product or service inside out but are not great salespeople. They are the knowledge base and might make great heads of research and development for the company but VCs know that the company won’t go as far as it could unless a better President is in place - someone who can sell.

Are you the type of President who can hit the pavement and bring in the deals? If so you stand a much better chance of getting funded. If not, you better find either a replacement for yourself as President or a really good Vice Preside of Sales for the company.

11) R&D Can Lead To More Than One Product

Venture capitalists like to protect their downside risk. Sure your projections look great but what if your technology doesn’t sell? It works as you expected it to but customers just aren’t willing to pay for it. Then what?

VCs like to see that the money that has been put into developing the technology can help lead to more than one commercialized product. Show that you have a primary focus and you believe that you’ve identified the best market for your product but also have a backup plan to show how else the technology can be spun off in case Plan A doesn’t work out.

It’s time for another SEO Advice post! Last month, I offered free SEO advice to Teach And Grow Rich. I’m going to continue my SEO Advice series today by helping out another YoungEntrepreneur.com blog reader Josh Cunningham, from Josh Can Help.

Josh Cunningham - http://www.joshcanhelp.com/

I would love to get some feedback on my site:

joshcanhelp.com

I’ve read all of your SEO advice columns and implemented as much as I was capable of doing. I think a possible problem could be keywords - I’m not sure how to pick them. I have a million and one words I use to describe what I do but many of them are very general and not something I expect to rank well for (computer training, technical support, content writing, graphic design).

Thanks in advance for your help!

–
<> Josh C <>

My Recommendations

1) Focus On Specific Keywords

As you mentioned, you’re not sure which keywords to use and it looks like you’re trying to cast a really wide net. The problem is, if you don’t focus, you won’t rank for any of the keywords. In your title tag you mention css styles, company email marketing, search engine optimization analysis, and web development. All of those will be difficult enough to rank for on their own - let alone when they are all bunched together! Pick the one or two keywords that make sense and optimize only for them. If you want to add more keywords in later one, create new interior pages for them instead of jamming them into your home page.

2) How To Identify Your Top Keywords

Use the Google Keyword Tool to find out what people are actually searching for. Build a list of keywords that you think are relevant and check off the “Use synonyms” box to get even more keywords from Google. Then look for keywords that have low advertiser competition but a decent amount of search volume. Once you’ve figured out which ones those are, see which ones make the most sense for your business. Which ones are going to drive quality traffic (ie. free company email marketing might be easy to rank for but it won’t send you much business)?

3) Use Better Post Titles

It’s great to see that you put a lot of effort into your posts and they are very detailed. If you want to be seen as a small business technology expert I would suggest writing more posts like Good advice to a client about building a blog from the ground up as opposed to Haha but give them better names such as: How to Build a Blog That Makes Money From the Ground Up or 7 Ways To Build a Profitable Blog From the Ground up. More exciting titles will get people to read your posts, subscribe to your rss feed, and link to your blog.

Good luck Josh!

Readers, what do you think about Josh Can Help?

To learn more about how to get SEO tips for your website please read my post: Need SEO Advice? Submit Your Site!

Today I’ll continue with my series on the Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital.

14 Things VCs Look For

6) Synergies With Other Portfolio Companies

When you’re doing your VC research, take a look at what other companies they have already invested in. Is there a way you can help those companies grow? Are there synergies that you can see for a mutually beneficial relationship?

The venture capitalists have already invested money into their portfolios and want to see them succeed so if you think there is a potential fit to share resources, partnerships, customers, media, etc. bring it up!

7) Valuation

Venture capitalists typically like to take sizable positions in your company. Don’t expect to get rosy valuations from them - especially if you’re still in startup mode. Sure you could be worth a lot some day… but right now you’re not and you’re only able to sell future potential so much. Expect to give up between 30-60% of your business in most cases. Unless you are already well established and don’t need much money (in which case you probably aren’t talking to venture capital firms), you will be giving up a significant portion of your company at a valuation far less than you think you’re worth.

Remember the idea behind sourcing capital is that you’re owning less but of a much bigger pie than if you try to do it all yourself. 10% of something is worth much more than 100% of nothing.

8) Honesty, Passion, Good Story

These are some of the soft factors that venture capitalists look for. At the end of the day the decision to invest or not is made by people are people are governed by their emotions. Venture capitalists want to see that you are honest and they feel like they will be able to work with you in a trusting relationship. If they don’t think they can trust you, forget about receiving funding no matter how great an idea you have.

They also want to see that you are passionate about the business. You’re not in it just for the kicks of running a business - you truly love what you do and will give anything to succeed. VCs know that you will come across multiple challenges as you build your company and if you don’t have the passion to move forward then they’ll worry that you’ll give up too soon. Express deep passion and excitement with what you do at every step of the way.

Finally, you want to show that you have a good story to tell. How did you come up with the idea? How did you get your first customer or your first partner? How was the product / service developed? If there is something unique about your story it will help you stand out and get remembered.

“I don’t know who the hell I am, I don’t know what I want, except, I’ve got an insatiable appetite for life, and I want more, more, more!”

As Vince McMahon utters these words, he sits atop a billion-dollar fortune, solid in his reputation as one of the most successful promoters of professional wrestling in world history.

Love him or hate him, McMahon has undoubtedly succeeded in turning his father’s regional wrestling operation into a global billion-dollar enterprise. No other single individual can claim to have had the same impact on the world of wrestling than McMahon.

Professional wrestling might have been around for more than a century, but it wasn’t until Vince McMahon came along that it would gain the massive following that it has today. What was once seen as a not very profitable sport for promoters has today become a billion dollar industry thanks to McMahon’s single-handed efforts.

From the abuse he would take as a young boy in his trailer home to the abuse he would later dish out as his character Mr. McMahon in the ring, McMahon challenged the odds stacked against him to become not only a successful entrepreneur, but also an industry legend.

How did he do it?

“I’m a real common sense guy who caught a lot of good breaks and who has been very, very fortunate. I think my idea of retirement might be to one day work a 40-hour week.
When you think about it, you should compare the World Wrestling Federation to other major entertainment companies or motion picture studios. It’s the greatest form of sports-entertainment in history, and the audience loves it for that, but at one time, this industry was lying to the public. We love our fans, so there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for them, and we go directly to them. The biggest thrill in the world is entertaining the public, there is no bigger thrill than that.
I don’t know what drives me, I don’t have a clue, but I’m driven more today than I ever have been. I’m not too good at lying still in the sun.

I’m not afraid of failing. I don’t like to fail. I hate to fail. But I’m not afraid of it.From a personal standpoint, the old expression of what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is somewhat true.

I guess maybe another gift I have is a great work ethic. I have to do something with my mind, or I’ll get in trouble.

I understand the common man because I understand me in that regard at least. We do have our finger on the pulse of the marketplace, if for no other reasons than having all these live events and listening to our audience all the time.

You do have to delegate as you grow. You need to surround yourself with quality human beings that are intelligent and have a vision.

Despite the way I would feel personally about someone, if it’s the right business thing to do, I’ll do it for our audience.  I always put my personal ego aside, which people find hard to believe, to do what’s right for business.

I ALWAYS Win. I’m Vince McMahon, dammit! I got balls the size of grapefruits!“

This week’s Entrepreneur University comes thanks to Dr. John Oda. John is a business peak performance expert, an author, and speaker frequently called upon to provide corporate training, workshops and seminars for many companies in the United States.

Today John shares his advice on how you can overcome difficult times and succeed with your business:

“One day, I had received a call from a potential client who told me that she had just lost everything in her business because she went through a divorce. At that moment, I felt sad for her loss and then offered her a solution to move forward in her business.

We all go through problems in our lives. The question is, how do you move forward when life blindsides you in a way that can be painful. Did you know that you are bigger than your problem? And, how do you prepare for life’s problems?

From working in the mental health field for over 21 years, I explain to business people that it is a MUST to renew yourself on a daily basis. An example of doing this is to use auto suggestion that was prescribed by Napoleon Hill, the author of “Think and Grow Rich”. This is done by using a statement and saying it with emotion regularly to condition your subconscious mind to accept it. I’ve used this technique in my own life where I’ve selected statements from the Bible to say aloud, or made up my own positive statements for the subconscious to instill. The best way for it to work is doing an auto-suggestion about 30-minutes a day.

Business owners who don’t take the time to condition their subconscious mind regularly have a heard time dealing with their life problems, which can lead to the downfall of their business. In order to change your life, make this habit a part of your Daily Method of Operation (DMO). Your business is your life. Your business is who you are as a person. It must be your commitment to yourself and your family to renew your mind on a daily basis.

In order to make changes in your life, it has to be a MUST, not a should, or do I have to. You must believe you CAN DO IT. That’s when your life will take off. To keep this promise to yourself, find a friend or get a coach to hold you accountable to your commitment.

We all go through problems in our lives. The question is, how do you move forward when life blindsides you in a way that can be painful. Did you know that you are bigger than your problem? And, how do you prepare for life’s problems?

From working in the mental health field for over 21 years, I explain to business people that it is a MUST to renew yourself on a daily basis. An example of doing this is to use auto suggestion that was prescribed by Napoleon Hill, the author of “Think and Grow Rich”. This is done by using a statement and saying it with emotion regularly to condition your subconscious mind to accept it. I’ve used this technique in my own life where I’ve selected statements from the Bible to say aloud, or made up my own positive statements for the subconscious to instill. The best way for it to work is doing an auto-suggestion about 30-minutes a day.

Business owners who don’t take the time to condition their subconscious mind regularly have a heard time dealing with their life problems, which can lead to the downfall of their business. In order to change your life, make this habit a part of your Daily Method of Operation (DMO). Your business is your life. Your business is who you are as a person. It must be your commitment to yourself and your family to renew your mind on a daily basis.

In order to make changes in your life, it has to be a MUST, not a should, or do I have to. You must believe you CAN DO IT. That’s when your life will take off. To keep this promise to yourself, find a friend or get a coach to hold you accountable to your commitment”

Have you given thought to what your Daily Method of Operation (DMO) is?

Our 30th Review our Blog entry comes thanks to Jared from Fire & Motion. You can read what he had to say about us in his blog post: Blog Review: YoungEntrepreneur.com is A++ Reading.

Fire & Motion is a military concept based on keeping your enemy (competition) on their heels while you capture ground. You shoot…that’s the fire part, then as they are reacting, you move forward. That’s the motion. The key is to be proactive while your competition is forced to react. Fire & Motion provides a practical guide to capturing Entrepreneurial ground.

Thanks for the review Jared!

If you are interested in doing a review, check out our Review Our Blog initiative for instructions.

Today I’ll continue with my series on the Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital.

14 Things VCs Look For

3) Experienced Management Team

One of the biggest problems that most entrepreneurial companies face is a lack of solid management in all areas of the company. The ideal company would have someone on the team who excels at sales, someone who has a strong financial background, someone who has built a statup before, someone with extensive industry contacts, and someone who can build and further develop your product.

Unfortunately this “dream team” rarely exists. Chances are you’re very good at some things but very weak at others. VCs are used to having companies come in that are not perfect but the closer you are to the ideal business and the fewer holes they have to fill to help you out, the more likely they will say yes to funding you. Remember, they’re sitting across the table sizing you up and wondering “Can this guy manage $2 million if I give it to him?”

4) ROI and Exit

Venture capitalists don’t usually expect you to pay them back in the first year - but they want to get paid a lot for helping you. They typically look for an average of 30-40% return per year by the time they cash out. Can your business deliver those kinds of returns? Are you in an industry that is growing hand over fist and attaining 30-40% average ROI is achievable? If not, you could have a great business but you’re just not a candidate for venture capital money.

VCs also don’t want to stay with your business for too long. They want to be out three to five years after buying into it. Is there a quick exit for you? The most common option is a strategic buyout from a related company so don’t be surprised if in your meetings the VCs ask you who might buy you in three to five years. The other exit options are to go public or to have a management buyout but the buyouts are pretty rare and with the way markets are going today, don’t expect many startups to go public anytime soon. Do your research so you can confidently walk in and know who you’re a potential acquisition target for. A profitable exit is 50% of the decision whether to invest in the first place or not.

5) Have Related Contacts

Once a VC invests into your business they obviously want to see it succeed and will think about who they know who can potentially lead to increased sales for your company. It could be a new possible client, a partnership relationship, a media contact, etc. When you’re making your pitch to the venture capitalists they are immediately thinking if they know anybody who would either buy what you’re selling or if there is a potential partnership angle with any of their contacts. The more related connections they have the more luck you’ll have at landing the deal.

If they don’t know anybody in your industry then they probably won’t invest and you shouldn’t take their money even if they did want to give it to you because you want someone who is going to give you more than just funds.

Aloha!

My wife and I got married last December and tomorrow morning we’re off to Hawaii to celebrate our one year anniversary in the land of surf and sunshine!

I know what you’re thinking… “What about the Young Entrepreneur blog???”

Well over the past month I’ve been working to write posts in advance for while I’m gone.

I will be also be checking in every now and then to see how the posts are going and approve comments.

It will be an exciting round of posts and I’m looking forward to reading your comments!

Here is a preview of what you’re going to learn in the coming weeks:

• How to raise VC money in a special mini-series called “The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital”
• Business advice from Michael Dell, King Gillette, Giorgio Armani, and Vince McMahon
• Entrepreneur University lessons on overcoming difficult times, being inspired at work, getting more from your marketing, and creating a motto
• How to improve your search engine placement through case studies of websites belong to Young Entrepreneur blog readers

After the success of our entrepreneur poll on the best ways to raise capital (The 8 Best Ways To Raise Capital - Entrepreneur Poll Results) I thought it would be a useful exercise to learn more about what venture capitalists look for and how entrepreneurs can best present themselves to make a VC say “yes!”

This is part one of a mini series dedicated to venture capital that I call “The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Venture Capital”

Investment Amount

The first thing to understand about venture capitalists is that they usually like to invest $500,000 or more into companies. If you’re not going to need megabucks for your business then you should turn to angel investors (wealthy individuals), friends and family, or traditional sources such as banks.

Investment Rounds

Venture capitalists also like to buy into investment rounds. They look for companies who will have a steady need for cash as the businesses grow and will need help in each stage of growth. For example, you might need $500,000 today but will also likely need another million or two six to twelve months down the line.

14 Things VCs Look For

1) Lifestyle vs. Gazelle

Most entrepreneurs run lifestyle businesses. They set their own hours and run their companies to support their outside lives. If you want to take Friday off, you can! If you want to catch up with your Facebook friends while at the office, you can! Feel like sleeping in, go for it! You might figure that as long as the work gets done and you’re putting in your hours then it doesn’t matter. That’s a lifestyle business.

If you want to build your business to the point where it runs on autopilot and your staff will take care of everything for you (which most people do) so you can go golfing or start something else, then that’s a lifestyle business.

VCs don’t invest into lifestyle businesses. They want Gazelles.

Gazelles are the entrepreneurs who run high growth businesses, are putting in 80-100 hour weeks, and would sell their left arm if it meant their business would be successful (alright that’s a bit of a stretch but you get my point). You’re going to have to work hard once you get VC money and you’re going to have to show the VCs beforehand that you’re the type of entrepreneur who wants to work that hard to make your business succeed.

If you’re not willing to put those kinds of hours in and make the sacrifices that go along with it (no social life, family life, personal life, etc) then you not a good candidate for venture capital money.

2) Related to their area of expertise

Venture capitalists often set up funds to target a specific market segment. For example, a VC could open a fund that targets software or biotechnology or energy or telecommunications. The VCs hire people who know those market segments to run the fund.

The common sense strategy, therefore, is to look for the VCs who are investing into your industry. Do they have a fund set up that specifically caters to the market you’re chasing? If you are in the wind energy business then you want to target energy funds and not software funds.

A quick look to the websites of the various VCs will show you which funds they’ve create and where they are investing.

On Friday I’ll continue the series and take a deeper look at what VCs want to see from entrepreneurs.